When the Romans banished the apostle John to the island of Patmos, they must have assumed he would soon be forgotten and his influence wiped out forever. Pastor Jack Hayford pointed out, “A small mountainous island with rocky soil in the Aegean Sea, Patmos should have remained an anonymous piece of land that people were sent to and never heard from again….  But God had other ideas.”[1]

Once a thriving Greek community, Patmos had fallen into decline, and the island was being used as a place of banishment for criminals and troublemakers.

Today Patmos is a tourist spot. Most of its development can be credited to the fact that tourists want to see where John was when he wrote the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation. In that most unlikely place, God revealed Himself to John in an outstanding way.

If you’re in a difficult-to-understand situation right now, wondering if God has forgotten you, take hope.  Perhaps your life is consumed in caring for someone so severely disabled that he or she doesn’t know who you are.  Or maybe you’ve had to discontinue teaching a Bible study that was joy of your life, or maybe you feel exiled to a job you hate but can’t quit because you need the money.  To His people He says, “Remember these things, O Jacob, I have made you, you are my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you” (Isaiah 44:21).

Whatever your “Patmos,” remember that while you are there God has you clearly in His sight. Someday He will bring blessing from your banishment.

[1] Dr. Jack Hayford, from an address at the 20th Anniversary Commencement of Angelus Bible Institute, Los Angeles, CA.